The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays
by xxXMythiaXxx
Summary: The basketball days were thought to be all gone, but it's just begun. Yukishiro Mitsu, you must be some girl to catch the eyes of every player. (OC x All) (canon!)
1. Boku wa Yukishiro

**Mythia: Ugh. I'm already dying from my UtaPri and HnKnA fanfics, and yet...because this has got to be my favorite anime ever, it had to be done. Ok? Ok.**

**Basically, this is based off of the canon (well, most of it) of the ANIME, as I have not read the manga ahem #slapme. The only twist is...there's an OC.**

**Yay.**

**I don't want to keep you from reading the story (who reads these A/Ns anyway...?) Just want to say this:**

**THIS CHAPTER IS THE PROLOGUE.**

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><p>00<p>

I Am Yukishiro

_Boku wa Yukishiro_

Every day is a new day.

Each day I live is another day I learn something about the world I live in.

At night, I dream. And by morning, I see the light.

Yukishiro Mitsu is my name.

When I was young, I lived in America. It was frustrating moving there because of how people there couldn't say my name right with their carefree accent (which I hated), or how difficult it was to pick up the language.

But there, I met these two boys that taught me basketball.

Before that, I would watch them play on our elementary court. One of them, being like me, wasn't very good at his English quite yet (though he was still better than me at it). The one that was way better than the both of us taught him how to play first, and I would watch as he got better and better.

I didn't dare say a word to them. I was too amazed at how they played that I didn't want to interrupt. I was a girl, after all, too scared to speak to boys.

Later on, I saw the two on the sidewalk. The boy with his left eye hidden by his dark hair was giving the red-haired boy a ring, and they bought a chain to become brothers from other mothers. I really liked seeing that, and prayed to God that I'd have a friend that I can call my older sibling.

Little did I know, I'd get an unnatural amount of brothers and sisters...

But anyway, I was watching them, hiding behind a tree. Somehow, the older boy spotted me, and looked at me. I mean he _looked_ at me. It was hard to look away. So being stupid as I am, I walked towards them.

I drew my lips to a thin line. "Ha... Hi." I twitched a smile, stiffly bowing before them.

The redhead blinked. "What are you doing?" he asked in English.

"Oh! Um," I quickly stood up, "Sorry." I was dumbly speaking in Japanese the entire time, knowing that they would understand.

"Do you speak Japanese?" the older boy asked, in English as well. He smiled a little. "You look familiar."

"I... I watched all of your games," I meekly replied in English, not to get any looks from other people around. "Erm, your basketball games! With the other kids?" I looked down again. _I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid,_ I repeated in my head in doom.

That was not how you should talk to two boys for the first time.

"That makes sense," the older boy said, speaking in Japanese. He stood in front of me, and smiled. "I'm Himuro Tatsuya. Nice to meet you...?"

I flinched. "Ah, Y-Yukishiro Mitsu!" I exclaimed. I was very nervous at that age, and couldn't speak to kids my age or older at the time, with most of them being American. I wasn't confident with my English then.

Himuro and I shook hands. I hope he didn't notice my palms began to sweat in anxiety. "What a unique surname you have there, Yukishiro-san." He turned to the redhead and said, "This is Kagami Taiga. Taiga, this is—"

"Yukishiro Mitsu. I know," he interrupted, causing me to shake a little. He looked so intimidating, but when I look at it now, he was actually kind of shy then. He wasn't, let's just say the best with girls most of the time. Some he could tolerate, I guess.

"Shiro-san has been watching our games with our friends," Himuro continued. He turned to me and asked, "You must know how we play, huh?"

My lips parted. It seemed a bit hard to breathe, with him calling me by 'Shiro.' After all, a senpai like Himuro-kun made words somehow difficult to come out, with the way he looked so princely and acted like a gentleman.

I could see him with a crown and uniform, walking into a castle.

The silence was a bit awkward because of me spacing out (_stupid, stupid_), so I had to say _something_. "Well, y-yes."

"Do you know how to play basketball, Shiro-san?" asked Himuro.

I gulped. "Well, not really."

That was a lie. I have never touched a basketball in my life, much less played a game with someone. But one thing was on my mind at that moment.

_Please don't ask me to play with you...!_

"Is that a yes?" Kagami spoke aloud, cocking a brow. He was suddenly interested. I had mixed feelings about that.

"W-Well, no. I can't play like you guys," I stammered, already tripping on my words. "I just, I have this way, and—oh forget it. I can't play with you two. I-I'll just suck."

"I'm sure you're great at basketball," Himuro insisted with a calm smile. Just how patient was he?

Before I knew it, even though it was around five in the evening, we went onto the basketball courts near the school we all went to (I told them on the way that I went to their school too), where I'd watch them play all the time. Kagami had a ball.

On that day, I touched a basketball.

And for some reason, feeling the roughness and seeing the black lines on the orange, I suddenly felt pulled to something. I didn't know what, but I felt . . . adrenaline?

Well, it wasn't like anything I had experienced in my entire life.

"How about you shoot instead of staring?" Kagami asked me, jolting me from the feeling. It wasn't completely gone though—in fact, it shrunk due to reality, and built up inside.

I smiled timidly. "I-I'll try," I said. It wasn't like I could escape from this.

So I tried mimicking something Himuro-kun would do. I bent my knees, not too much, raised the ball above my head, and hesitated. After a heavy short breath, I shot.

I missed. _No..._

Kagami looked at me all weird. "Have you played before?"

I bit my lip. "Um, n-not against anybody, no. Or in a long time either." I felt horrible lying ridiculously. I looked like an idiot.

Himuro just chuckled. "Maybe you're rusty," he said to me. "You're probably amazing if you get the feel."

Oh I had the feel. It was just stuck inside, going haywire. _Stupid, stupid_, I kept repeating in my head again.

So Kagami-kun ran to get the ball, and threw it at me. For the accomplishment of the day in which I bothered to inwardly cheer for, I actually caught it. So I started to calm down my pounding heart, because I wanted to _not_ look like a senseless little liar.

Trying a different position to get comfortable, I found myself twisting my left ankle a bit more, using my left hand for more boost onto the ball.

It went farther, but way off to the right of the hoop, hitting a tree.

_I'm so stupid!_

"I'm sorry! I'll get that," I embarrassedly apologized, only for Kagami to get it again, making me look slow.

"You haven't played before," Kagami bluntly said. "Your form isn't right."

"I'm sorry—"

"Stop apologizing! You don't need to." Kagami gave me the ball and pushed his hand on my back to the court.

When I was about to position myself again, he pulled my small shoulders back. "Don't put your shoulders too forward," he told me. "Also, you're not bending your knees enough. Your left ankle is twisting to the side a bit too much."

I nodded, my heart beating fast and blood rushing to my ears. I was straining to hear. So, when I aimed and threw, I actually hit the headboard!

Well um, only for the ball to hit the right side of the hoop and fall out of it.

Himuro-kun ran to get the ball, giving it to me. "You're drastically improving, Shiro-san!" he assured me when I looked a bit upset. "Don't give up now."

Collecting myself together, I raised my head and said, "Thank you for all of this. I never would've expected this to happen while walking around."

At least that was true.

By the sixth try, I got the hoop in. After that, it was back and forth, getting it in and failing.

Overall, I had fun with the two. The next day, I found them playing after school and they spotted me again. It was another round of learning the ways of basketball for me then.

In the middle of my third grade school year, I was moving to a different class, with Kagami-kun in it. After school, we'd play basketball and do our homework at each other's houses (focusing on our English most). I once saw him cook with his dad, and he was a natural! It made me smile whenever I met up with him—Himuro-kun too.

Himuro-kun, Kagami-kun and I familiarized with each other and became great friends for what seemed like forever. Basketball connected us together, and that's why I played every day with them, to thank it. Besides that, it was fun, entertaining, and gave me a chance to see them smile radiantly each day. They were like bright flames, lighting each other up, and lifting their abilities higher and higher. And they brought me up with them to the wondrous burning feeling.

Of course, the first few times made my muscles ache terribly.

It was cool, especially when I was close with them enough to call them 'Tai-kun' and 'Tatsu-kun.' In return, they called me 'Mit-san' and 'Tsu.' Though I was still confused at why Kagami would call me by a hiragana character.

What was even cooler was that Kagami told us that he knew this WNBA player, and after a lot of convincing, we got that woman to teach us basketball! He didn't tell us that she was retired though. But she was still young.

Her name was Alexandra Garcia. We stubborn kids annoyed her though. But later on, she liked us and loved teaching us. Though she didn't hesitate to kiss me because she was a crazy American, that Alex-san.

I was relieved that she could speak Japanese though! It wasn't too fluent, but it was better than many people (because she nailed the Japanese accent).

When we went out for ice cream one time, I remember Himuro held my hand and slipped a ring on one of the fingers. Kagami dropped a chain on my head. "Happy belated or early birthday," was what he told me with a grin.

I took the chain off my head because it was starting to fall, and examined it. It looked exactly like the one they wore. The ring was a little different, but I was surprised that Himuro knew my size at the time. Maybe he guessed?

Pulling the ring off with ease, I slid it on the chain, and Himuro snapped it on behind my neck. "Now we're all siblings, right?" he asked.

Kagami shrugged. "Tsu is like a little sister to me," he said.

I _was_ a few months younger than Kagami. So I said, "Yeah, we all are siblings from this day forward."

"By the way, you're getting better at your basketball Tsu."

"Really?"

"Of course. Mit-san, you're one amazing sister."

I thought that the happiness would just get better and better in America.

However, when Himuro had to go to middle school, life just got a teensy bit less exciting for Kagami-kun and I. We still played without Himuro, and didn't see him for the entire fifth grade too. It was like a rainbow without all of the colors, or a half-painted picture. It wasn't complete.

But Kagami just kept going. He wasn't the kind to be hung up on something he knew shouldn't be thought of much.

I felt bad though.

When I least expected it, my parents told me some 'good' news. I was going back to Japan when I would turn twelve.

I couldn't tell Tai-kun! It was just something that I could never do. I'd feel too bad. At the same time, I didn't want to tell him before I left—that'd be worse!

When we entered our first year of middle school, the guilt would cross my mind each day. When I said in my mind I'd tell him, my mouth would stay shut.

I still played with Kagami. Then, I realized something for a moment—he was getting stronger. He surpassed Tatsu-kun.

Speaking of him, I finally saw him again in his second year, with his own street ball team. Kagami and I were taken by surprise when this boy asked him to play against them with his own team. Because we didn't know Himuro was there yet, Kagami accepted, since the boy mentioned that they were a great team.

Kagami's team won against Himuro's. He won for the first time against him. Himuro, being a good sport, was congratulating him.

That was all I saw last of them and their basketball games, before my parents told me that I was leaving a week after that instead of when school was over. So, it was then or never will I break the news to the two best friends I made over the adventure in America that I never thought I'd enjoy.

Over the phone, I told Himuro. "Should I tell Tai-kun?" I asked him worriedly. "I know this whole thing won't get better for him."

"Don't worry about him," Himuro told me. "I'll tell him if you can't."

"I can, I just... it'll be hard if it's Tai-kun."

"He'll be fine, I'm sure. He's stubborn and headstrong after all."

I sighed. "I don't want him to be like that though. I don't want him to carry this, this sadness if I leave, hiding it by playing basketball alone. If I were him, I'd feel like all my friends are leaving me."

"Well, you're you, Mit-san. You're like none other, and so is Taiga," Himuro just said. "I feel sad right now that you're leaving for Japan. But maybe one day, we'll see each other again."

"I... don't think that's likely. That's mostly impossible." I scratched my head nervously. "Tatsu-kun, this may be the last time that we'd speak to each other again."

"You're probably right. So then, I want to tell you something." There was silence over the line, but then he cleared his throat. "Please, if you can, message me via email, text, or call. Mit-san, I love your determination and smiles. You brighten up my day and Taiga's."

I wanted to cry. I know it sounds pretty weak of me, but leaving my best friends and hearing these words can ebb away your strength and just start up the waterworks.

There was a bit of silence before he added, "I _will_ see you again. I promise to go to Japan and play a game with you on the courts."

I jumped at this. "You will? Really?" I couldn't believe it that well.

"Brothers would go to Jupiter if their little sister was there, Mit-san. Remember that."

I didn't know what to say. Kagami and Himuro were my first brothers that found me. They taught me basketball, made me enjoy America, and allowed me to find happiness in friendship. Then, I was leaving them, to go back to Japan. But Himuro promised me that we'd see each other again.

I never would've known that I would.

In the end, before I left being in the airport, I got a phone call from Kagami.

Thinking that he was mad, I froze. Forcing myself to answer, I stuttered a "Hello?" to him.

"Why didn't you tell me? Tatsuya had to. You told him, but why didn't you tell me?" He seemed to be in pain. He wasn't angry, just very... heartbroken.

My throat felt constricted. I couldn't breathe. So I managed to reply to him softly and quietly, "Because I didn't know how."

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"I—Tai-kun, I have to go to my flight now—"

"You can't just _leave_ this conversation Tsu!" He was senselessly mad. As if he didn't know what to do at the moment, he lashed his feelings out on me.

I was trembling. Not in fear, but I just felt so bad for Kagami. It wasn't like I was trying to, because Kagami didn't like to be pitied. I just couldn't help it.

Taking deep breaths, I hiccupped. I didn't realize it at first, but I was crying. My mother was concerned and asked me, "Who are you talking to?"

"Kagami," I told her. I moved back to the phone. "Himuro told you?"

"No. The homeroom teacher announced it to the class. I excused myself," he growled. "I called for Tatsuya in his class and asked if he knew, and he did."

I was struggling for air. It was like my lungs couldn't work properly. "T-Tai-kun... I'm sorry for not telling you. I would've, but you seemed like you were already sad about Tatsu-kun."

There was agonizing silence over the other line. My breathing was ragged, and my mind was spinning, the tears still falling down.

"I love my brothers. I won't forget you," I said in English. Then in Japanese, I continued, "_We'll see each other again, and play a game first thing_."

Kagami was still silent for a moment. I thought he'd hung up, but then he answered painfully, "That's impossible—"

I began to be a little mad. "No! Kagami-kun, don't ever say that! We _will_ see each other again. I'll visit you, and we'll continue to study English, go out for ice cream, and, and... n-never forget that we're siblings, and siblings don't ever leave each other, even if they do. You have a special place in my heart, and it'll never be replaced."

Before he could speak, I hung up, boarding my flight to Japan.

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><p><strong>Mythia: "Is this going to be a Yukishiro X Kagami fic?" NO. JUST. NO.<strong>

**Idk the OTP here myself, haha! But I've planned it so that all (or most) of the guys get a chance of my cruddy excuse of 'romance' with my OC. And yes. She's a ball of shaking derp.**

**Haha, there's something wrong with me today. XD I'm usually shyer...? I think? Hm...**

**Anyway, please! I am open to any suggestions or advice, in any form. I mean, if my first review is a flame, then I'll just have to face it. That reviewer is an idiot. (naw maybe I'm just that bad of a writer)**

**Oh! And I'm publishing 2 chapters bc let's deal with the facts here. This isn't satisfying.**

**If you're still there, _domo arigatou_ (trans: thank you very much)! :)**


	2. Tip Off: Unseen!

**Mythia: Haha, you guys should just know that I don't play basketball, and I hardly know much about it. I do watch basketball games, but um... yeah, I'm redfaced here.  
><strong>

**Go. Hug your mom.**

**Btw, this is also the PROLOGUE. Part II...?**

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><p>0.5<p>

Teikou Middle

_Tip Off: Unseen!_

I didn't like Japan.

I was used to America.

I had great friends there.

And now, I had to start a new life at a new school with unfamiliar faces and _no_ _friends_.

The only good thing about moving back to Japan was that I could freely speak Japanese. But what was the good thing in _that_, when I could be playing in the court and eat ice cream with my brothers and a retired WNBA player?

I couldn't call Kagami or Himuro because I didn't the cross-country calling ability on my outdated phone. And my parents only bought a phone for me to have for safety purposes.

I could email them, but I wasn't very good in terms with Kagami. And Himuro, well, I felt like I shouldn't bother him at the moment. I just allowed him to bond with Kagami as brothers, because they haven't caught up with each other.

And it was my entire fault for not running away the day we met. After all, I didn't know them! Why did I dumbly agree to randomly play basketball with two kids, one of them being a whole year older than me?

I wouldn't feel bad going back to Japan if I didn't meet them. I'd be happy, feel free from the English and the Americans picking on my silvery white hair. Not to mention my name, 'Mitty Mitsy! Missy Misty!' My name was _Mitsu_, so get it right Americanos.

Kagami wouldn't be so mad at me if I didn't meet them. I meet them—become best friends with them, only to _stab_ them in the back and leave three years later.

It felt terrible each day I lived in Japan from then on. The kids saw me as a quiet, shy, yet reserved person, and avoided me at my school. Teikou didn't seem interesting in the least to me.

For me, it was always conversations like this from other classmates: "Is that color natural, Yukishiro-san?"

"W-Well, I'm not allowed to dye my hair..."

"Uh, is that a yes?"

"Do you want to hang out with us, Yuki-chan?"

"Who gave you the permission to call me that?"

"Oh..."

"Yukishiro Mitsu, is it? Your name has your hair color. I mean, 'Snow White' is your surname? Coincidence? I think not! You _must've _dyed it!"

"W-Why would I lie about my hair color? It doesn't make sense to me. Besides that, I don't comment on your name or hair color, so p-please leave me alone."

One day, I finally had a conversation of my interest. But it wasn't interesting at first.

"Hey, Shiro-chan! Isn't it cool how your hair matches your name? I mean, Yuki_shiro_ is kanji for '_White_ Snow,' obviously. You're like the _Kiseki no Sedai_!"

For once, I had to translate that in my head. It said _Generation of Miracles_ in bold. "T-The what?"

Not many people approached me. But when they did, it was always about my hair or my name. They would comment on how unreal it was and all that, and it annoyed me inside.

Needless to say, this wasn't a surprise about the color. What surprised me a bit was that there were other people in the school that were somewhat the same. And they were called the Generation of Miracles.

What... a stupid name...

"They're the regular basketball players for Teikou," the girl explained. "There's the captain, the feared but handsome Akashi Seijurou. His hair is red! And you know—"

"Aka is the kanji for 'Red.' I know..."

"Okay! Anyway, there's _Midori_ma Shintarou, _Ao_mine Daiki, _Murasaki_bara Atsushi, and the new one! He's a model for those really hot magazines!"

I didn't care about that. "What? Is his name Daidairo?" I asked. It meant orange.

The girl blinked. "I thought you'd realize," she said. "You don't know him? I'll give you a hint: he's blonde and tall!"

"Well, he's a basketball player," I reasonably said. "And no, I don't know him. Who is he?"

The girl just gaped at me. "You really don't know? Huh... well then again, you're a foreign transfer student."

"I was born _here_, and only went to America for three years." I began to deadpan.

She ignored me and continued, "Well, his name is Kise Ryouta. I'm his biggest fan!"

_I'm sure you are_, I thought. But then my mind registered some words again. _Basketball players for Teikou_, it said again and again.

There was a basketball club in Teikou?

Later that day, I looked up about Teikou in the computer room. They were known well from their basketball team, and how unbeatable they were. Words 'amazing,' 'miracle,' and all sorts of competitions came up, and how they won every one.

So they were that good. Being Yukishiro Mitsu, I had to see them.

I tried finding my way to the gym, and got lost in the large school. It was very different from the America schools I got used to. There were chalkboards and such to keep things traditional, but there's no harm in _modernization_. Whiteboards are way more helpful, and cleaner. Chalk is dusty and would go everywhere. Some people have dust allergies...

With my irked thoughts, I bumped into someone. "Oomph!" I knew the person was tall from the height difference, so I assumed that he was a player. "I'm sorry, but um, do you know where the Teikou gym is? I'd like to see the basketball team."

I was a bit taken aback when the guy laughed on the spot. "You're going the opposite way then," he told me. When I got a good look at him, he was tall and blonde, with catty eyes and most of all—he looked like a model.

"A-Ah!" I stupidly squeaked. I covered my mouth. "I'm s-so sorry."

"No need! Something the matter, miss?"

I looked at him with wide, grey eyes. "Are you, um, Kise Ryouta?"

He laughed again, causing me to blush in embarrassment. "Yeah. Did you want to drop by to ask me for an autograph?" He moved closer to me, and I took a step back. "Hm. You're new, I presume?"

When I didn't expect it, my throat... it felt constricted. The last time I felt that was the time I had to say goodbye to Kagami.

"Y-Yes. My name is Yukishiro Mitsu. Nice to meet you, Kise-kun."

He blanched for a second there, making me wonder. But then he looked at me with a toothy grin. "I'm late for practice. But I'm sure I can use you as an excuse because we can't be roguish to girls, can we?" He walked ahead of me, and I followed suit.

I didn't understand what he was saying earlier, but at least he was showing me the way. I still needed to thank basketball for friends, but when I thought about it—

"You're like a stuttering version of Kurokocchi!" Kise exclaimed, snapping my thoughts in two. "You're a bit shorter than him, by like, five or so centimeters. But you're still very cute, like him!"

"C-Cute?" I wasn't very sure what to think of it.

"Yeah! Oh, Kurokocchi is so short for a player, standing at only one hundred sixty-eight centimeters (five and a half feet) tall! He's amazing, and his play is something admirable." He kept babbling on and on about this Kuroko, making me wonder exactly _who_ caught his interest and admiration.

He continued speaking still, "You'll like him a lot—wait a minute." He stopped walking. "What do you want in the gym?"

I froze. "Well, um..."

"You wanted my autograph? I can give you one now if you have paper, or a poster or something. Ah ha, sorry about that. I was thinking about random things." He pulled out a pen. Noticing that, I assumed he had to sign many stuff for fans often so he keeps one near him.

"Oh, no. Y-You can put that back," I quietly said. "I just wanted to see how good your team is. I've heard that you were unbeatable."

Kise nodded. "We always win. When your captain is the definition of 'perfect,' the team is flawless."

"You seem proud of your team." Okay, I lied there, but I didn't want to say cocky, or smug. But still, 'proud' was an understatement. "I played basketball back in America."

_W-Why did I say that?_

"Eh? Really now!" Kise looked at me, up and down. "I never would've guessed! And from America too!"

_What does that mean?_ "I played with two other really good friends who play street ball," I said. "We were somewhat coached by a retired WNBA player."

"Oh? Women's basketball you mean?" Kise asked, and in turn I nodded. "Oh, that's cool! Our captain is really strict on our diet and practice time. He'll probably punish me with some exercise that'll make me sweat like the others so we can make some simulating practice matches with our own players."

That's what they were doing. They were simulating practice matches with their own team.

Then, I had a random thought I should've asked earlier. _Who's 'Kurokocchi'? Does he have black hair, with Kuro in his name?_

Kise looked at me, as I stayed silent. "Do you know that I'm a model?"

"Huh?" I turned my head to him. "Oh, n-no."

He just hummed. Finally, we were there. Well, that was far.

"Here we are!" he announced to me, and opened the door. Inside, sweaty boys bounced balls around, noticing Kise quickly with me. A little nervous, I hid behind him.

"U-Um, maybe I should've... not have come—"

"Nonsense, Yukishiro-chan!" Kise opposed. "Come on, you can watch us and tell me what you think!"

Slowly, I peeked out to the silent boys. From what I believed was the captain's glare—which was more of a glance—they forced themselves to resume playing.

The captain had long red hair that dangled over his forehead, and attentive bloodshot eyes that could see through my soul. His eyes caught mine, giving me a disapproving glance. I was in such a frozen state, feeling like a deer in the headlights, that I couldn't look away.

But then, Kise shook my arm, and gently sat me down on a bench where regulars would sit on. "You can watch really closely here," he told me. Then, he jogged to his captain.

It was then I realized the captain was Akashi Seijurou, the one the girl spoke about before.

I glanced around, looking for strange-colored hair. I caught green-hair and square-framed glasses on a certain boy, as I took my time to study him. He was wearing an armband, telling one of the people that it was his 'lucky item' of the day.

Those sorts of things are nonsensical, and I didn't like how people told you your fate and such. You should _choose_ your fate, and not rely on some _tarot cards_ or _palm readers_ to know about you, your 'past life' that I didn't understand, or your future life ahead. (**Mythia: I am sorry if you believe in those things. I am not intentionally offending anyone.**)

I didn't like him already, but I had a feeling that he was... Midorima. Midorima Shintarou. Wasn't that his name?

Moving along, it wasn't long before I saw this really, _really_ tall purple-haired boy, who looked like the lazy type. Couldn't he even bother to cut his hair? At least Midorima-kun neatly trimmed his hair so that you could see his eyes. His lower lashes were beautifully long.

This guy however, didn't look like he cared about what he looked like.

He stopped playing, and sat on the bench I sat at, right beside me. He smelled of sweat, but it didn't disgust me entirely. I grew up with boys.

His lazy eye looked down at me, as I tentatively looked up. I noticed our massive height difference, and it was like he was twice the size of me. He probably was.

"Um, hi," I nervously greeted.

The tall boy just shrugged. "You're tiny."

I laughed a little. "I-I must look like an ant to you. My name is Yukishiro Mitsu."

_He must be Mu... Mura... Murasaki... um... Murasa_—

"Murasakibara Atsushi," he said to me. I blinked.

"Ah. N-Nice to meet you, Murasaki... bara-kun."

"Is it that hard to say?" he drawled, though he wasn't that interested if I answered. "I don't care what you call me."

I questioned, "How about Murasaki-kun?" I laughed again at this. "Ah, that sounds girly."

He just shrugged. Maybe he didn't care anyway.

"Your hair is weird."

Well, that wasn't the first time I heard those words. Despite that, I self-consciously raked a pale hand in my white bangs. "Well, y-your hair is purple."

Murasakibara was called back onto the court, and I was left alone on the benchers. Sighing, I continued to look around. There was a dark blue-haired boy that pummeled his opponents, leaving me in slight awe.

He glanced at me, and our eyes met. He gave me a careless grin, and resumed playing. _Aomine Daiki was his name, right? Well, that's easy to remember, in my opinion_, I thought.

My eyes wandered back to Midorima, who uncannily shot from the other side of the court. I blinked, grey eyes widening. "How did he do that? T-That's not possible."

"Why, this is _my_ team, Yukishiro."

I turned to my left, and there stood the feared Akashi Seijurou. He didn't bother to look at me, watching the court. "We are a proud team. Basketball prodigies we are, and I trained them to perfection."

"Perfection?" I repeated, looking at Kise. "I... I don't believe in what you said."

The redhead twitched a small scowl. "I must ask of your reason to this. You are seeing wonders and impossibilities before your eyes, and yet you don't accept to admit their impeccability."

"W-Well... I think there's no one in this universe that's perfect, even though they may seem like it. Everyone has a weakness, and basketball isn't counted out. That's what I believe. There's always room for improvements," I explained with a smile. "Even though your team leaves me awestruck, I think one day, you'd understand that there are people who could beat your team."

"I highly doubt that."

I shrugged. "But I still don't think your team is purely perfect on all sides. Maybe your stamina isn't as good, because their abilities use up some energy? Maybe your special moves are limited? Maybe your secrets to your trump cards will be revealed soon?"

Akashi looked at me, with interest in his eyes. "What a statement to say to Akashi Seijurou."

"Was what I said w-wrong?" I asked.

"I will let you off this time," he said.

Kise walked over to me seconds later. "Ah, Yukishiro-chan! What'd you think of our practice?"

I stood up, and nodded genuinely. "It was nothing like I've ever seen, Kise-kun."

"Great!" He gave me thumbs up, and offered, "Do you want to play? Our practice is over now."

Akashi then really put his attention on me. I gulped. "Oh, well, that's okay. M-Maybe next time."

"I'd like to see your play, Yukishiro," Akashi said. He sounded like he was interested, but it felt like a demanding command. There was no doubt, he could rule this basketball court like a king, using the other players and I like puppets.

We had to entertain him. It was disturbing.

Defeated easily, I squeaked an, "Okay." Kise passed me a ball, and I caught it with slight difficulty. He threw it with power I should've expected!

The ball though—it felt like I should've played it first thing when I came here in Japan. I didn't though, because of how terrible I felt when I looked at it. But it was in my hands, a little sweaty from the use but I still felt over the black in the orange like the first time, having familiarity with it.

With my feet moving on its own, I stepped onto the court. Many eyes were on me, especially the Generation of Miracles. Exhaling a shaky breath, I habitually twisted my right ankle and threw with my left hand backing up the ball for some forward strength.

It went in.

I threw a two-pointer.

"Wow! Amazing, Yukishiro-chan!" Kise said in glee. Murasakibara raised his brows, and Aomine smirked. Midorima gave me a strange expression I can't put to words.

"Ah, you can call me Shiro," I said absentmindedly. "B-But anyway, it wasn't that good! It was just a two-pointer, nothing special."

"But your position was really weird," Kise started to explain. "It looked so strange! Do Americans play like that?"

My mouth parted. "N-No. I had a habit of twisting my _left_ ankle, but I'm left-handed, so my friend Tai-kun helped me grow this habit of twisting my right ankle, and it'll even out for me to shoot straight." (**Mythia: Once again, I feel stupid.**)

"Hey, Yuki!" I looked to my right at the voice, and it belonged to the tan-skinned, blue-haired ace. "Shoot a three-pointer," he ordered.

I may as well have been wrong about the puppet thing. At the moment, I was the _only_ puppet on the stage, with everyone around me having a turn to play with me.

That's just sick.

"A-Alright."

...Did I just say that?

Before I knew it, I walked backward, and shot. It went in again, with Kise grinning like a total fan. Aomine nodded, which probably meant that he was impressed. "Not bad, Yuki."

"This coming from Aomine, you really had him interested," muttered the assumed Midorima.

I wanted to retort from the official Aomine, because I didn't want him to call me Yuki. But I had this throbbing feeling that he was one of those people who didn't listen to little girls telling him to stop calling them by nicknames they didn't like.

So I twitched a smile.

"Go to the back of the court." That was the green-haired boy.

And I instinctively obeyed, going to the back of the court. Kise was telling him that it was impossible, which it was, but I never tried.

So I tried.

And I failed.

Kise jogged towards me and gave me a small careless grin. "It's not like _I_ can do something like that, Shiro-chan! So don't feel bad."

"Oh, but I'm not," I said quietly, but since the gym was silent, it was heard. "I've never done anything like that before. Tai-kun says it's impossible, but then again, _you've_ done it." I looked at the _megane_ boy.

His _glasses_ were something I strangely wanted perched on my nose. I had decent eyesight, but...

For some reason, I was wondering what he looked like without glasses.

"I saw your play. It was amazing to watch!" I continued.

"What about me?" Kise asked with sparkling eyes.

"Ah ha, in all honesty I haven't really watched all that much. Though—"

Kise interrupted me by laughing. "Well that's okay. Let's play with each other then!"

_W-Wait a minute!_

"H-Huh?"

"Come on!" He tugged on my wrist. "It'll be fun, Shiro-chan!"

_No, it would not!_ I really regretted wanting to watch Teikou's basketball team. I was pretty helpless, so I found myself performing a one-on-one match against a regular on the basketball court, fumbling with a ball in my hands.

The others watched. I was gulping in whatever fluid was in my dry mouth at the moment, thinking about the practice I had with Tai-kun and Tatsu-kun. I was reminding myself that I still had to thank basketball, but that was quickly buried under thoughts of worry.

Kise liked how I played, saying how amazing it was. But, playing against him would only prove how much I sucked.

But I tried anyway. "Here I go," I whispered to myself, and ran past. Kise blocked, and tried stealing by slapping the ball.

It barely budged, to his surprise. Well, it was mostly because of my advantage. After all, his hands were sweaty and slippery, while mine were dry. And apparently, he realized about that and whined, "No fair!"

And so I paused, and proceeded to use the bathroom. I came back out with my hands, face, and hair wet. "How's this?" I asked.

"Eh? Did you just do that?"

"Uh, y-yes?"

"Well... You're being cooled off with the water!"

"B-But what's the point of sweat? God made us sweat for a reason, did He?"

Kise huffed, but then he grew serious as we continued. It... was strange. Before I knew it, Kise was no longer Mr. I'm-Going-Easy-On-You. He was serious.

Because of that, I was struggling. It was like swimming, and at the moment my muscles were getting tired and my lungs were running out of air. My head was just above the water, with the gravity pulling me down.

My breathing was getting ragged. Kise was far better than Tai-kun or Tatsu-kun, and I wondered what I could do. I did have an advantage, with ten points ahead, but then Kise caught up and surpassed me, being twelve points ahead.

When he saw that I could barely move anymore, my speed lowering drastically, he stopped.

"No, no," I rasped out. "I-I can still play. Please."

"You can't play like this, Shiro-chan," Kise told me in a serious and worried tone. "I don't want you to lose all your strength. Your stamina isn't as good as mine."

I drank a bottle of water a random guy gave me. "T-Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Catching my breath, I glanced at the person beside me and stood up straight. My eyes stared at him. "W-Were you here the entire time?"

His hair was a light blue. There was no way I could've missed that, in a sea filled with dark-haired players.

"I've been here since practice started," he said with little, or maybe _no_ emotion. I thought of how dramatic that sounded, but seriously. He didn't seem like he was feeling _anything_ at that moment.

I blinked owlishly. "It may be because you're shorter than the other players, but I haven't noticed you at all. I'm so sorry." Smiling awkwardly, I said, "My name is Yukishiro Mitsu."

"Kuroko Tetsuya," was his reply.

If my eyes could escape from my sockets...

"_You're_ Kuroko Tetsuya?" I questioned. While I was wondering about this, he simply nodded. "You're the one who knows K-Kise-kun?"

"Yes."

My eyes were pretty wide then. "H-How do you play, Kuroko-kun?" I decided to ask.

His eyes seemed to be caught a little off-guard. It kind of relieved me that he wasn't some robot, because he really seemed like one. I'm not exaggerating when I say this.

"I am merely a shadow to the _Kiseki no Sedai_. They are lights. The stronger the light, the darker the shadow."

I blinked again. I didn't understand then what he meant. "I, um... Kise-kun told me about you," I said carefully. I tried not tripping on my words as best as I could. "He said you were a great player."

Kuroko blinked indifferently. "Did he? But I'm just his shadow. I only support him."

There was silence between us, as the others were watching our conversation. I was thinking hard about something, when it crossed my mind.

"So you don't do those flashy shots, like star players, or um, lights. And instead, you uh, support the... great players while you're like, backstage? Like, you can pass the ball to them, and—"

"Wow! Bingo! Right on the spot, Yukishirocchi!"

I yelped, turning to Kise. "Wait, w-what?" I stuttered in surprise. Besides that, since when did he call me that?

"You're really smart, Yukishirocchi! How about you and one of the Miracles play with you, while Kurokocchi and I play against you?"

"B-But you just said that I should—"

"You're all good now, aren't you Yukishirocchi? We'll just play until one of us scores ten times. Doesn't matter where on the court, just do it," Kise spoke excitedly. "You can see Kurokocchi's moves then!"

I was thinking about this in my head. After debating to myself inside for a minute, I meekly nodded. "O-Okay."

Seriously, why did I keep doing that?

And so, another round of playing began. I was stuck with Aomine, because Murasakibara already left, and Midorima refused. Akashi wanted to be a spectator instead of playing on the court, so I didn't have much of a choice.

"Let's _go_!" Kise roared with excitement, and we played for a little bit.

What I had noticed was that Kuroko never aimed for the basket the entire time, and just _passed_, and _passed_ and _passed_.

I was right. Sort of.

Another thing I noted was that I should've forced Midorima to play with me, because Aomine wasn't doing his best I knew. Maybe that was because he was playing with me, and wanted to be gentle.

Be gentle to my butt. How unfair it was for my mother to give birth to a _girl_.

_Maybe I should show them a move I've done and practiced with Tai-kun_, I thought, and I passed to Aomine, who dunked. Kise took the ball, and ran towards the other side. I winced at the thought of Tai-kun, but tried to push those thoughts back to concentrate on the game.

Aomine and I weren't the best pair for coordination reasons. He was a sole player, wanting to play himself and take them on his own. He also played in a style I wasn't used to, because of how random and irregular it was, resulting in a game that was difficult to keep up with.

I liked leaning on other players, however. I didn't do best on my own.

So, I imagined Aomine as Taiga, which wasn't very hard since they both do serious offense. So I played the small game like a song, following the rhythm and shooting, passing, and such.

Then, it hit me when I didn't expect it.

My balls kept getting stolen. Kuroko would slap the ball out of my hands without me realizing it. Initially, I thought he was magical or something!

But then, I came to a conclusion.

"You can do misdirection!" I breathed, amazed.

Yes, I was amazed, just like how Kise-kun thought I'd be.

Kise grinned widely, with Aomine rolling his eyes. "He's _been_ doing that the entire game!" he shouted, but not angrily.

Kuroko, as if not hearing my words, just kept playing. He probably was aware, probably not, but I saw past him and my senses were opening up more. When I felt like my skin was being burned and fried from the sweaty heat, my thoughts clouded and my feet instinctively moving, I began noticing his presence more, and it came rapidly.

By then, I saw him coming before he could do anything, and Aomine and I eventually won.

But still, I was smiling, and walked to Kuroko. Before I could speak, Aomine asked me, "How'd you see Tetsu so fast?"

"Huh?"

"You noticed him really fast, in less than fifteen minutes," he said. "Usually, it'd take people thirty to forty-five minutes to see him."

"Oh. R-Really?" I looked at Kuroko. "Your misdirection... it was like nothing I've ever seen. Maybe one day, you'd be an amazing player, Kuroko-kun."

"Also," Aomine moved on, brushing a hand over my bangs and wiping it on his jersey, "you sweat a lot for a short game. It's only been less than thirty minutes."

I laughed. "I haven't been practicing every day since I came back from America," was my sheepish explanation. "But Ao-kun, if I may call you, you're incredible. It was hard to catch up to you on court though."

Kuroko admitted, "I was the same. Aomine-kun's moves were street ball style."

I nodded, smiling.

"Hey, Yukishirocchi! You're coming back tomorrow, right?" Kise piped up.

I blinked at this, thinking about what he said. After a few seconds, I smiled. "I-I'll try, Ki-kun! I had a lot of fun. Maybe I'll come to like Japan more."

"I can teach you some cool moves I know how to copy from the other players!"

Some basketball members whined. I giggled, "Oh, okay!"

That was an eventful day.

Later on, I moved onto my last year at junior high. Basketball seemed distant all of a sudden. It all happened so fast; I didn't realize it while it happened until after it did.

I knew it wouldn't last.

'It' was just another word for my life: great to ride on until it finds a cliff to unintentionally _tip off_ of and fall. I couldn't see the end to it for so long...

Teikou middle was like a dream, until it crashed down to a nightmare.

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><p><strong>Mythia: Ugh ugh I'm just way too dramatic. Well, I'm going through my stages. Just slapping meh feels here. Yep.<strong>

**Kagami: Well, stahp it.**

**Mythia: Nope. Not until you know how to spell.**

**Kagami: Shaddup! I don't care!**

**Mythia: Hm...your spelling needs improvement.**

**Kuroko: I don't think you want to make him mad.**

**Mythia: *unaffected* Hm...so it seems Kuroko-san...wait. *stares* Did you...did you do something with your hair? Was it always blue?**

**Kagami: Are you colorblind?**

**Mythia: Maybe... well anyway, hope you enjoyed! I appreciate any words you give me. :)**


	3. Boku wa Kuroko desu: Part 1

**Mythia: I haven't been in this anime for a while, so I'm planning to rewatch or read the manga... or smth. ^^"  
><strong>

**But my chapter one has officially been broken into 2 or 3 parts! I'm telling you, it's like, 20 freaking pages long.**

**Thank you for such the kind reviews, and Sia for being the idiot you are. ;) Love ya too~**

* * *

><p>01<p>

I Am Kuroko

_Boku wa Kuroko desu_

High school was here.

Summer felt like nothing.

So I was a little irritated at how I didn't commence the operation of moving away to America. I wanted Tai-kun and Tatsu-kun, not a new private school with new kids and few familiar faces.

Why was life so _unfair_?

I was off that morning... my head had a memory of an event.

_ Kuroko found me sitting under a tree, my back against the trunk and stood before me._

_ "I left them. But we won."_

_ "Of course you did," I mumbled, my eyes planted on the ground._

_ "I know how you feel. They're acting—"_

_ "Like total jerks, Kuro-kun!" I began to shout, being quite upset. I looked up into his slightly concerned eyes. "I know I shouldn't have left because I promised them I'd come to watch, but do you know how it feels to watch your friends just become... like this? Have you noticed, Kuro-kun? Have you?"_

_ Now, Kuroko was different from them. Yes, he was the Phantom Sixth Man, the one whom people would speak of sometimes as if he was a myth. But he had those eyes, the eyes that were like the other Miracles._

_ However, Kuroko was gentle and calm. He enjoyed basketball. But well, now I could see the hate in his eyes._

_ He could see mine._

I shook my head.

Today was choose-your-club day at Seirin High, something everyone had to participate in and choose. There were all sorts of clubs—drama, debate, chess, academics, and—

"Sports." I didn't mean to groan that aloud.

And so the memories poked back into my mind.

_ "I hate basketball," I said to him in such a spiteful way that his eyes slightly widened. Then, I buried my face in my knees and pathetically sniffed._

_ No tears escaped, but my heart felt so weak._

_ Kuroko was silent. Then, he bent his knees to be at my eye level, and leaned in. _

_ I blinked small tears of small freedom at his comfortable embrace. "I do too," he whispered._

_ He hated basketball? So that meant... his love for basketball was also crumpled into nothingness._

_ "However," he let go of me, "I'll get them to realize their mistakes. I'll get the people whom they crushed to love basketball again."_

_ I laughed a little, despite myself. "T-That's impossible."_

_ I've said those words one too many times at my time in Teikou._

_ Kuroko was silent, making me look up to see if he was still there. And he hadn't moved since he let go of me, crossing his legs quietly in front of me. I sighed, "You can try, Kuro-kun. I don't know how you could, but I'd like to see you make an attempt."_

_ But you'd fail._

_ Kuroko nodded. "Shiro-san, this isn't the end. I will help you love basketball again. And in return," he lightly stroked my arm, "I want to see you smile again."_

_ And so, he left me with those words, standing up and walking away._

Clearing my mind for the second time in a row, I glanced back and forth, finding myself in the middle of a large crowd. Someone went right past me, but I only felt the presence and didn't look at whom it was. But it felt... ghostly. Familiar. Strange.

_ I just sat there, hugging my knees. I looked up, with the branches and leaves blocking my view from the blue sky._

_ "Kuroko-kun . . . I hope you're right," I said, knowing that he wasn't there._

_ That was my time in Teikou, with my feelings being amazed but then shattered, defeated. However, because of Kuroko, I mean it. I felt a small spark of, of something inside._

_ A spark of hope perhaps, that was just enough to let me believe that Kuroko might make an effect to basketball. I doubted that he'd restore the love, but he'd benefit from it nonetheless._

The memories faded, meaning I forgot the rest afterward. Not that I wanted to remember though...

My summer was all indoors, reading in bed, sleeping, and eating the ramen goodness. There were piano lessons that summer that I was decent at, but I just really wanted to forget about my middle school life, or even better, my whole entire _past_.

I looked at my uniform, my eyes nervously moving left and right. There were all sorts of new students surrounding me, but they all had black or brown hair, of all sorts of heights and sizes and genders.

I felt really self-conscious of my ivory white hair that was like a small little star in the infinite night sky.

Sighing, I tried walking away from the sports clubs area, but then someone dragged me into a girl's soccer club presentation. Another wanted me in cheer because my legs were slim and my stomach was flat. Well, it wasn't _my_ fault that I didn't really like eating that much. Though, my stomach wasn't _that_ flat . . . in fact, I had some fat in there from the sudden diet on ramen noodles.

Nonetheless, I denied them both. I didn't know how to play soccer, nor was I interested in it. Cheerleading was all miniskirts and splits, along with flipping, which I didn't do. And if I tried, I couldn't because of how stiffly inflexible I was at doing splits.

Needless to say, I was stuck in the sports clubs section for a while.

I managed to sit on a bench, away from some of the chaos. There, I spotted the tennis club, baseball club, volleyball club, and a music club. In the back, way on the other side near this pretty large tree, I knew where that lay—the basketball club.

And it wasn't like they had many players, I knew. It was a new school, after all—

"You're here?"

I looked up from my hands, thinking. At first, I squinted, because I couldn't see anyone calling me. When it struck me, my eyes widened.

Well, that explained the ghostly feeling.

"K-Kuro-kun?"

In truth, I was relieved that at the one-face-I-was-okay-with-seeing was here. Though, I wouldn't have ever guessed he'd be here of all places, a not-so well-known place. Ki-kun moved to Kaijou, Murasaki-kun to Yosen...

"Domo," Kuroko greeted.

I stood up, giving him a small, sheepish smile. "Why are you here?" I asked.

"I live near here," was his reply. I laughed at this.

"S-So, you're going to sign up for the basketball club?"

"I already have."

"Ah, haha... w-wait, what? Really?" I gave him an incredulous look. "But, you can't be serious Kuro-kun! That's j-just... hah?"

He blinked, but smiled a little. "I don't hate basketball anymore. I want to play again," he said. He looked at his open hand and fisted it tight, rotating his wrist.

I stared at his hand. "Kuro-kun, you forgive so easily." I felt a little envious. He forgave so effortlessly—

"I do?"

Despite being a shadow, he shone like the sun to me.

But hold on. "Kuro-kun," I said, looking in Kuroko's eyes, "did you say that you were part of the Teikou basketball team?"

"On the paper, yes," he replied.

"Did you say that you were a Miracle?" I pressed on.

He simply nodded.

I stared at him for the longest time. Kuroko was patient, and never found those situations awkward because of how often it happened for him. Though, I sighed, looking down. "They're going to await a Miracle like Ao-kun or Ki-kun," I told him. "T-Though, they'd be getting someone great! I'm just wondering how you'll be of help in the team, and who'd be the light to your shadow."

"_If_ I get in the team."

I laughed a little at this. "I'm sure you will if they find you, Kuro-kun. It took me a while to actually notice your weak presence."

"Not when you were on court," Kuroko reminded me.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be reminded of my past, but it was good when I thought about Kuroko. He was just a really nice, calming person. On top of that, he was an amazing help of a basketball team and could do things on court many players couldn't predict.

So I mentally rooted for him. If he continued to play basketball, I had to support him as a friend.

Then, a question popped up, which startled me on so many levels.

"There's a manager spot available for the basketball team."

...Okay, so it wasn't a question. It was a subtle suggestion that I _instantly_ caught.

"I'm not being the manager."

Kuroko was smiling inside. I could feel it. He was tempting me into somehow snaking myself back into basketball, or convincing myself to at least _watch_ games and matches again.

I don't know what'd become of me if I did that again...

Suddenly, I felt his hand tug on my wrist, and we rode the chaotic people ride over to the basketball club sign-ups. I was thinking crazy things in my mind at the moment, huffing inside at Kuroko. "S-Stop!" I sputtered. Since my wrist was being held in a way I couldn't escape from, I was helplessly struggling.

Kuroko wasn't ignorant, but stubborn. Those were two completely different things.

So I was being dragged over, and there I saw a girl about my height, with short, brown hair and brown eyes peering at me. "May I help you?" she asked. Examining me, she said while pointing, "Cheerleading's _that_ way."

I wrinkled my nose, sickened. There was _no_ way I was going to cheer in this peppy way with a _miniskirt_ on. I shouldn't even bother to mention the pom-poms. Oh, the _pom-poms_.

"I'm s-sorry, I'll just be going now," I assured her before Kuroko poked my back and I flinched. My back was strangely sensitive.

The girl cocked a brow. Two tall boys sat on either side of her in chairs, also wondering what I was doing. "Which club are you looking for? Koganei can show you where to go if that's the case," she spoke.

At the mention of his name, a cat-eyed boy with brown hair perked up. I laughed sheepishly, "Ah no, that's okay. I'll just be heading off this way—ack!"

Kuroko didn't hesitate to poke my back again. I couldn't believe that they _still_ hadn't noticed his presence.

Sure, he was like a ghost, but I would've noticed him by _now_.

"You okay?" the other guy with the glasses asked.

I nodded, blushing a little. Kuroko was asking to die today. "I'm sorry, I'm a new student," I apologized.

"We can tell," the girl said with an unwavering face. 'Koganei' was amused, but the other two seemed more irritated at me, making me wince.

Seeing my action, the girl slightly softened. "But that's all good. I'm Aida Riko by the way."

I smiled, feeling relaxed now. "Yukishiro Mitsu. Nice to meet you, A-Aida-senpai!"

Aida questioned, "Do you know anyone who's interested in basketball here? We could use some good players."

I held back a laugh. Strangely enough, _all_ of my friends played and were great at it. However, Kuroko's the only one who was enrolled here.

"Do you have Kuroko Tetsuya?" I asked. Aida shuffled through a few papers, and found Kuroko's.

"Hey, yeah... wait a minute!" she suddenly shouted. "You know a Miracle?"

Huh, what do you know? Kuro-kun really _did_ write in that he was a Miracle in his resume.

So I nodded. "I know all of them, but—"

"_Hold on_." A hand halted in front of my face. "_You_ mean to tell me that you _know_ them? As in, met them and watched them play and have been to the school Teikou Junior High _know them_?"

"Well, y-yes."

Her eyes seemed to sparkle, as her hands clasped together and swooned. "You _must_ be our eyewitness on power and strength then," she said, mostly to herself, I thought. "Therefore..."

_Oh_ _no_.

Kuroko planned this, didn't he?

"You _must_ be some sort of manager to _Seirin_ _High's_ basketball team!" she finished. "Please, you must."

The senpai in the glasses sighed tiredly, "We'd like for you to accept. Though, don't feel obligated to do so. Just be in it or don't, because we barely know how well you know about the actual _Kiseki no Sedai_."

"It'd be cool for you to come join our basketball fun!" Koganei said. "We've also collected a really neat player. What was his name? Ah, it was something ferocious. He looked tough, right Hyuga?"

"Oh yeah, him! He's from America," Aida added with a bright beam. "Cool, huh?"

I glanced if Kuroko was behind me. It probably was because I forgot he was still here, but I could no longer see him. But hearing the key word 'America' opened up my ears. "H-Hah? Really?"

"Yeah! His name's Japanese though." The glasses senpai handed Aida the paper, and said, "Kagami Taiga's his name."

That's when I froze completely. My mind had gone blank, echoing 'Kagami Taiga' over and over again. Aida was shaking my shoulder a little, as I was still fuzzily spaced out in cloud-cuckoo-land, not knowing what I was doing or saying in the outside world.

Kagami Taiga was... here?

I mean, was he really, truly _here_? I wasn't just hearing things?

"K-Kagami... Tai-kun?"

Aida blinked several times in confusion. "'Tai-kun'?" she repeated.

I swiveled around, staring at Kuroko with wide eyes, ignoring the fact that I may or may not have looked right at him. "Kagami Taiga! Where is he? I must see him!" I exclaimed.

This didn't make any sense to me. Kagami was in America, wasn't he? Wasn't he mad—no, _furious_ at me for leaving? And now he was a student of a high school in Japan that happened to be where I was attending?

I blanched.

"Yukishiro?" Aida raised a brow in concern. "You okay? Oi!"

I didn't listen. My eyes were finding a certain redhead in the crowd, with a face I could never forget about. It shouldn't be that hard since he was tall, but my eyesight was a little blurred from the alarming information my brain was still processing.

"Shiro-san?" I faintly heard Kuroko say. "Do you know him?"

"He's my brother," I replied absentmindedly, jolting Aida.

"What? That's insane!" she shouted. "How many basketball players do you know?"

Finally, my body could move to my accord, and I turned to them. "S-Sorry about that... Kagami Taiga is someone I know back in America. He taught me basketball, and we were like inseparable siblings," I began to explain, despite my dry throat and scattered thoughts. I pulled out my necklace tucked under my shirt, and showed them the ring. "He has something similar to this on his neck. We played basketball all the time in America, until I moved here."

"But _he's_ here," the guy in glasses pointed out.

"Well, I didn't know," I shyly confessed. "I tried contacting him, but he wouldn't answer my calls or reply to my texts. He never tried contacting me back either. There wasn't much I could do."

Aida ran a hand through her hair in slight frustration. "He's going to be in the gym later today. If you can come, you guys can face each other again, I guess. Just don't make much of a scene. I can't let the other new guys think that we're some sappy team that's never serious."

I felt like my lungs could breathe again. I was relieved so badly, I felt lightheaded. "T-Thank you, Aida-senpai. If it isn't much trouble to you, I'll gladly—"

"Great!" Aida's face broke out into a large grin. "In return, you ought to spill some secrets about the Miracles as our team manager!"

"Eh!? Wait a minute!"

"First thing, stop stuttering! Be a proud woman." Aida was completely ignoring what I had to say, so I reluctantly sighed and pouted.

"Aida-senpai, you can't just do that."

"What do you think, Hyuga? She's just what we need, eh?"

Hyuga, or the guy in the round glasses, shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. She might be pretty useless if all she did with the Miracles was stare with sparkly eyes at their good-looking faces," he grumbled.

My eyes darted to him. "Hyuga-senpai, I know much about basketball. More than what you'd expect," I sharply spoke.

"That's the fire!" Aida exclaimed with a finger fixated at my face. "Yukishiro, you're pale and skinny. Your hair is white and you look fragile, like a porcelain doll or a china plate. You seem like you'd break your whole body if you played a quarter of a game," she bluntly said. "But maybe I'm underestimating you."

After a hesitation, Hyuga stood up and faced me with stern and overlooking eyes. "I'm giving you one chance. You made our coach soft, so now you prove to me that you have what it takes to benefit our team."

So this meant... that there was no turning back.

I was officially the manager of Seirin's basketball team.

"Kuroko, this is all your fault," I muttered. Behind me, I felt Kuroko's presence. It was as if it was mocking me, and me only, without a soul knowing.

"So, are you joining?" Koganei asked me.

I sighed, "Koganei-senpai, I don't have a choice, d-do I?"

Aida fist pumped the air. "She's in!" But then, she smacked me really hard on the shoulder. "But seriously, stop stuttering."

* * *

><p><strong>Mythia: Yay! I think?<strong>

**Maybe it's just me, but the ShiroKuro (Black & White) fluff was _so much fun_ to write. Honestly, I thought I'd suck at writing Kuroko, but it wasn't that hard, really! Maybe some parts were OOC, but I wouldn't know because I've forgotten, hahaha. ^^"**

**Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, because I really want to improve. All the time. :)**


	4. Boku wa Kuroko desu: Part 2

**Mythia: After all of Chapter 01 is up, it'll be difficult to publish the later chapters, I'm sorry to say. This project is very hard, since it's a canon. But you know... I'm always up for a challenge. :)  
><strong>

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>01<p>

I Am Kuroko

_Boku wa Kuroko desu_

_[continued]_

"Eek!"

My shriek alerted the teacher. Standing before me, he checked my twisted ankle. Some students groaned at me for being such a klutz, while others quietly snickered. This one girl peered at me, worried about me.

"It seems that you need to stay in the school infirmary," the teacher muttered. "You can't go to the gym like this."

"That's _today_?" a girl whined.

The teacher ignored her. "I'll have you take her, Kimiko."

Kimiko, the girl who fretted at my ankle, twitched a small smile. "Ah, okay sensei!" she chirped. Helping me up, I limped to the infirmary with the girl.

"You okay?" she asked me. She giggled. "Well, at least I don't have to go the gym anytime soon. I can stay with you!"

I laughed nervously. "I-I don't think you should do that," I remarked.

"Nah, no one would mind. It's only the first day of school after all." She looked at me. "I'm Kimiko Haruka. My older sister goes here, so I'm pretty familiar with this place."

"Is that r-right?"

"Ha! Well anyway, how bad is that ankle? I hope it's pretty bad, so we don't have to climb up those pointless ropes, or run indoor laps." Kimiko stuck her tongue out in disgust. But then she quickly stopped. "Oh, I didn't mean it that way! I hope you're okay! I just hope you... are a good actor. I'm sorry, I just hate the gym that much."

"It's okay, Kimiko-san," I said. "Many girls don't like the gym."

"Do you like it?"

I blinked. In all honesty, I wasn't sure what to say. "W-Well, I detest it sometimes, but not because I'm terrible... I like it on other times because it makes me feel like I'm in another world. B-But I wouldn't like if it was, um, shaped basketball court form."

"Eh? Why a basketball court?"

I didn't realize that I just randomly sputtered out words that were in my head until that question popped up. I flinched. "Oh, well—I-I don't really—well um, it's just that—"

I couldn't answer, and it felt like I was trapped.

"Uh, it's okay, Yuki-chan! I won't ask." Kimiko waved her arms around with an uneasy grin. "Sorry."

"No, i-it's fine."

We spent our entire gym time in the infirmary. I really... regret it all.

~_The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays_~

I looked at my paper for the umpteenth time. "I can't believe this..."

Seirin High wasn't big for a private school, but it was more like a maze. I passed through the same classroom numbers, and found myself in the cafeteria and the English room one too many times in the _junior year's floor_. How hard was it to find the gym room here?

My eyes wandered grumpily, and caught sight of a tall second-year with straight black hair and dark, narrow eyes.

Wait a second. I was in the sophomore year's floor now? How could I not have realized that sooner?

Trying to stay firm under a few second year students' gazes (though I was considerably failing), I walked up to him. "E-Excuse me."

The boy was looked at me quizzically. "You're looking for me?" he asked, glancing around to see if I was talking to him.

"Oh, I-I just assumed you knew where the gym was, since you're a second year and all. A-And to me, you look like a basketball player a bit." I wanted to smack myself at the last part said. Well, it was said.

He lit up anyway. "I am a basketball player! It's cool that you seem to tell. Is it my height?"

I uneasily replied, "S-Sure." Then, I quickly added, "I wanted to go there to watch."

The boy blinked, but smiled in understanding. "I'm Izuki Shun. I'm about to go to the gym; I had cleaning duties in homeroom. But wow, how long have you been looking?"

"It feels like days..."

He laughed at this. "Really? I'll show you the way then." He looked at the 'new student' lanyard hanging around my neck, and said aloud, "Yukishiro Mitsu. That's like a name straight from an anime!"

I smiled. "T-Thank you?"

He just talked and talked as we walked to the gym. "Well anyway, I heard from Aida that we had cool people signing up for the team. She has to take hold of these people, whoever they are. Oh, and there's this girl that's our manager. She used to go to Teikou you see, so she knows about the Generation of Miracles really well! You know the _Kiseki no Sedai_, right? Well anyway..."

I wasn't exactly listening to him. My mind was set on seeing Kagami again. Oh goodness, what should I say to someone like him? Was he the same as the Taiga I knew? Or did he change?

In my mind, I hoped he didn't.

"Hey, what's your first impression of your first day here? Do you like Seirin so far?"

I nodded. "Oh, yes. The teachers aren't as strict as the ones back in my middle school, so I feel relieved."

"What about the students?"

"T-The senpais are kind like you here."

Izuki blushed a little. "Ha, that's nice."

Sighing, I couldn't help but think of Kuroko. I wondered what it'd be like to see my best friend meet my brother.

"Here we are," Izuki announced. He politely opened the door for me, and I stepped in to smell that it was only a little used for the day. So it wasn't too smelly, like Teikou's gym after the basketball club would use it.

The people were inside, and then it struck me. My heart pounded all of a sudden, ringing in my ears. I felt frozen and shy, seeing a whole bunch of guys in the room with their eyes on me.

Well, all except for one person.

Hyuga was acting tough, speaking in a strict and rough tone that slightly scared three of the people who signed up. Only four people showed up. Oh, there were five. My eyes were adjusting to Kuroko.

"Don't mind the people. Look at me!" Hyuga snapped. The distracted first-years were looking at Izuki and I, quickly turning their heads back to the irritated senpai.

Izuki casually jogged up to Hyuga. "A girl's here to watch us, I guess," he said to him.

"I know. She's supposed to be here."

"Wait, _she's_ the girl?" Izuki glanced back at me. "Really? Whoa, okay."

My grey eyes were slowly widening at Kagami's presence. He really was there, with his dark red hair. He certainly grew, but that wasn't surprising, knowing how much he'd eat in one sitting. But I was stunned to the spot.

Aida, standing near the benchers, caught me staring in half-registered shock. I shook my head vigorously, trying to find a seat. When I did, I was quietly observing them all.

In all honesty, Kagami was like the guy in the spotlight, while the others awkwardly stood there like they had a pointless role in the play. And these weren't my thoughts because Kagami was my friend. Anyone would've agreed.

Kuroko wasn't even noticed until Aida called him up. Before that, Kagami was called, and he left an intimidating impression. But back to Kuroko—

As I thought, they all had doubtful faces. He confirmed that indeed he was part of the Miracles. However, Aida was ticked and slightly glum at the invisible boy. "Are you kidding me?" her aura seemed to drawl.

They only did introductions that day. Kagami seemed to have something in his mind when he was packing to leave.

My heart was racing; I wanted to go to him. But sadly, my body was paralyzed and wouldn't move. My mouth whimpered pathetically.

Did Kagami even once glance my way? He should've noticed my white hair by now. It always looked like it was glowing!

"Tai-kun?"

Red eyes peered up. Kagami's face scrunched up, then he proceeded to tie his shoes, and zip up his bag.

He didn't notice me. Before I knew it, I had lost my chance.

Kagami Taiga left the gym room.

I sighed. I mean it, I saw him look my way! But why didn't he see me?

Izuki was still here, and he frowned when he saw a stray tear slip past my cheek. "Are... are you _crying_?"

I hastily wiped my eye and hiccupped. "N-No." Why would I cry like a pitiful wimp, when there was not a reason in this world to? I sat down, rubbing my eyes. I knew it was going to redden, but who cared?

Izuki sat down beside me. "Um, I'm just wondering something. After a while, Aida thought you left. In fact, the others thought so too, including me. Did you go out sometime while we talked and came back to speak with that tall guy?"

"I d-didn't leave," I replied. Well, I couldn't say that didn't baffle me.

"Huh. Really? Hey, is it something you and that Miracle man can do? Look like you disappear and—"

"I can't do that," I interrupted. "Only Kuro-kun can do that. No other person I know can try and _not_ fail at it."

Izuki looked at me. "But we all thought you disappeared," he insisted. "Huh, that's weird."

Thanks to him, I was too busy being confused to cry anymore. So I laughed, gracing a puzzled expression over the basketball player's face. "T-Thank you, Izuki-kun."

"For what?"

I smiled, and patted his shoulder, standing up from the benchers. "I stopped crying because of you. But now, I need to do two things: track down Tai-kun, and wonder about my supposed 'invisibility.'"

I didn't believe him. He was probably just messing with me.

Izuki blushed again. "It's fine, really. Don't thank me."

Patting down my pleated skirt, I said my goodbyes to him and left the school.

I was walking home that evening. The sun was setting beautifully, but the sounds of cars and afternoon traffic ruined the peace, to my disappointment. Then, the sound of a basketball was heard in my ears.

I stopped walking. My ears didn't do that ever; as in hear things that weren't really there. Sighing, I followed the sound, not really needing to be home too soon.

It led me to a street basketball court not too far from Seirin. Though, to say that I was shocked at the two people playing one-on-one was an understatement.

"T-Tai-kun? Kuro-kun?"

The both of them stopped for a moment. But then they resumed playing.

Inside, my head spun. It was only the first day of school! All I wanted for my high school life was for it to be normal, maybe above average grades, and some college credits at the most, nothing too great! But instead, I get to be manager of my high school's basketball team, with my American brother and my best friend that I'm still questionable about. After all, I hated my middle school life.

Please don't ask why.

Watching them felt weird. I never did a one-on-one with Kuroko before, so I never experienced his effect with just him against only me on court.

And in all honesty... not to be mean, or anything...

A five-year-old could win against him.

Kuroko hadn't even gotten a ball in when he shot at rare times, and his defensive abilities were to his disadvantage because of his height. So, not even scoring once, it was Kagami for the win by a landslide.

"You're terrible! And you call yourself a Miracle? Stop joking around, kid!" Kagami shouted. He was obviously disappointed. "I need to find a real opponent around here. Miracles should be easy to defeat if you're as puny as them."

My eyes widened. I stepped up, quite loudly, causing two pairs of wide eyes to look at mine for the first time since the club introduction.

"Now look right here! I've been standing here the entire time, watching most of the game, and I know Kuroko. Offense... or defense... they aren't his forte! However, he's a valuable addition to Seirin's basketball team. I've known him for how long. Yes, he needs to improve, but you do too Tai-kun! You've been slacking when you could've aimed at better at stamina, o-or, or strength. Both of you, I didn't expect you to be here." My brows furrowed. "Tai-kun, that wasn't nice of you to say such hurtful and stingy words. Yes, I'm here. Yes, you're not seeing things. But no, things aren't going to be the same between us. You... I have nothing to say now!"

Kagami just stood there like a gaping fish. No ones escaped his mouth. He was stiffly staring for what seemed like hours, looking at me as if I was a ghost. "T... Tsu?" was all he could utter.

I fixated my gaze to the concrete floor, glancing around from time to time. "Tai-kun, welcome to Japan. I go to Seirin as well, a-and I know Kuro-kun—erm, Kuroko Tetsuya. Kuro-kun," I looked up to meet his indifferent blue eyes, "this is Kagami Taiga, or Tai-kun, my b-brother from America."

Under my shirt, my hand found the ring in the chain necklace, and I pulled it out. "I didn't like Japan. But because of T-Teikou and their basketball, I began liking it. But then... well, I don't want to talk about it. We split apart, end of story. So in Seirin, I was hoping not to get involved in basketball anymore, but... now I'm Seirin's manager for the basketball team."

I mean it when I say that I've never said a longer monologue in my life. But the other two were silent, so I had to keep babbling.

"I just don't really k-know anymore—"

"Tsu. Shut up."

I squeaked, tentatively looking up at Kagami's face. He looked more intimidating and strong, like a beast. He was no longer the person I knew back in America years ago. He was a Taiga (tiger).

"I've been sick when you left. Tatsuya and I aren't the same. You and I aren't the same either. I thought it'd just be best if we just forgot about each other and our past."

"I-I tried that."

Kagami blinked, not expecting that from me. He continued, "You meant a lot to me, you know. And for you to leave without wanting to tell me made me pissed."

"I f-figured, Tai-kun."

Kuroko watched us, as we awkwardly spoke.

"And now that you're here... hell, I don't break promises."

"H-Huh?"

Kagami groaned, "You forgot our promise?"

"No, I-I didn't! It's just..." I trailed off. But then I finished, "I'm wearing a skirt."

The wind was the only thing heard.

"A-And it's late, I don't have a change of clothes and—"

"Seriously? A little skirt's what's pulling you down? You said that the first thing we'd do is to play a one-on-one!"

"We were in _sixth grade_! Did I know any better?"

"Here." Kuroko plopped a shirt and shorts on my head. I blinked when it fell onto my hands.

"Kuro-kun, I can't use your clothes. That's just ridiculous," I stammered.

"Yeah, her waist is _really_ small."

I huffed lightly at Kagami, "How would you know?"

He simply looked away.

I began folding the clothes given to me, and carefully arranged it inside Kuroko's bag. "Kuro-kun, I just can't use these. It'd be big on me, so I'll just work with what's on me right now."

"What?"

Almost shamelessly, I pulled down my skirt and threw my top off. With wide eyes, the two stared. Kagami was blushing madly at first, but then he was red in anger at me. "Tsu, are you kidding me!?"

Underneath my school uniform was a pair of shorts and a simple tight tank top. "I can't wear a skirt with nothing underneath, Tai-kun," I teased. "I have modesty."

"T-That's just sick, Tsu."

"I'll lose against you though, you know that?" I still had that recently twisted ankle, which is in much better condition, but it could still act up anytime during the game. I had to be aware of that.

A ball was already being bounced up and down. My body moved into a simple position, not exactly warmed up but Kagami wasn't that warmed up either. Kuroko was barely an opponent to him; that I knew.

Kuroko stepped back. Kagami smirked. "Don't care. Your play, Tsu."

* * *

><p><strong>Mythia: It's official. I love Kuroko no Basuke. <strong>**Hahaha, then again, I've always loved it. XD**

**As I revised this on the fanfiction thingamajigger, I realized that Yuki's monologuing was, well, long. Please don't skip that part. Unless you don't really care. In that case, you didn't have to read it.**

**And yesssss. Sibling reunion, amiright? :D**

**Thank you for reading! Please tell me if you notice any mistakes, or if you have any suggestions/requests you want to see in this story.**

**Preview? Preview!**

Aida's eyes widened. "That's really..."

"I was surprised too when I first knew. I had no words to describe his play either. But I'd say now that it's cunning."

Aida crossed her arms, impressed. "Shrewd."

"Sneaky."

"Sly."

"Nifty."

"I'll say," agreed Aida. "I can't underestimate this guy anymore. He's wimpy, but he might be useful. Hey, write in more detail about Kagami and Kuroko."


	5. Boku wa Kuroko desu: Part 3

**Mythia: Hey guys! Does Mitobe have a seiyuu? XD Maybe not. He doesn't talk, after all... hehehe, what a random thought, no?**

**Please, enjoy the final segment of Episode 01! :) I'd say Happy Belated New Year, but meh. People might see this in like, March and go, 'It was New Year a long time ago...' People might see this next year. Who knows.**

* * *

><p>01<p>

I Am Kuroko

_Boku wa Kuroko desu_

_[continued]_

"You know, your friend should just quit basketball."

"W-What? No, he shouldn't! His strength is entirely different, you see."

Kagami gave me a bored look.

After the basketball game, which I sorely lost, Kagami came with me to see my parents. They were glad that he moved to Japan, asking a little about Himuro. But those conversation ties were always cut off and moved to a different conversation. I wondered why he'd do that.

Did something happen after I left?

Kagami left the house to head home, and it wasn't far, so we found out that we used the same route to school next morning. Well, more like Kagami showed me his route. I took the car the first day, and immediately traffic formed, so I was late to school that time.

Walking to school didn't take long. And the day went by so quickly. The teachers didn't expect too much from the students, so some of them were late that day, and the learning was basic.

Doing biology was disgusting because of how blunt the teacher was at addressing parts of animals or the human body. Geometry class gave me a headache. All of these formulas, with lots of algebra mixed in were just terrible. But after that, English class was like a jump for joy, with a breeze of fresh air on a warm, sunny day.

Soon, I entered gym class for a second time for an actual class. Kimiko was visibly down because of this. She was asking me the class before to break a part of my body again, but that'd look like it was purposely done.

In the end, it was shown that I was above average at P.E. I was better than some of the boys, to my surprise.

Of course, there was Kagami. He was in my gym class, and he had more of the spotlight when it was his turn to do whatever the coach instructed him to do.

After my last class, which was history, I got lost again trying to find the gym, and had Hyuga help me find it like I was blind. "Haven't you been here for gym class?" he inquired, exasperated. "Twice?"

"W-Well..." Should I have answered?

I laughed nervously. "S-Sorry, Hyuga-senpai."

"Your job today is to find the stats of our recruits with Aida," he spoke, probably being on okay terms with me.

"Oh, that's n-no problem," I waved off.

"You better get used to no stutters though. Aida would easily get annoyed."

I blinked. "And you're not?"

He stared at me through his round glasses dryly. "I could care less, since you're just a timid freshman to me. But if this continues in the middle of the year, I'll get pissed."

"G-Got it. Oh, sorry about that!"

"Enough apologies too. That'll get old fast."

"A-Alright. Oh, s—"

A hand was smacked onto my mouth. "What did I just say?"

"I was about to say, 'Oh, sheet,'" I said sensibly. "You know, like the cuss word that my mom had taught me not to say. 'Shikushou!' Eh, that sounded lame!"

Hyuga snorted. "Do you think I'd buy that crap? Don't treat me like I'm dumb."

"I wasn't intending to," I said.

We entered the gym. "Hey, you all!" Hyuga shouted for attention. "Our manager's here. Her name is Yukishiro Mitsu."

"Aha, nice to meet you all," I greeted with a small wave. My eyes met Kagami's, who looked at me with a silent sigh, looking away. My smile vanished.

Kuroko watched me with emotionless eyes as I stepped to where Aida was. "You guys have seen her before," affirmed Aida. "Yukishiro will watch how you play and note your stats. If she notices what you can't do, we'll have a special training for you. Maybe you'd be a regular if this keeps up."

While the other first years were surprised at my presense, Kagami suddenly blurted out, "Wait, we're _not_ in the regulars yet?"

Aida's eyes narrowed promptly. "What? Did you expect that we'd welcome you with open arms? We're not stupid," she snarled. "You recruits are going to go against your senpais."

A second-year I haven't properly met yet stood behind me in complete silence. It felt a little awkward, so I smiled at him. "H-Hello."

I was met with a smile and no words.

Koganei whispered to me, "Mitobe doesn't talk."

"Oh."

"Did I tell you my name yet?" he asked me, with his cat-like eyes on mine.

"Well, it's Koganei-senpai... right?"

Even his smile was like a cat's. "Right-o! Koganei Shinji. And that's Mitobe Rinnosuke. He's really nice, so don't worry about him," he assured me.

"Ah, I wasn't worried." Did I look worried to him? Maybe it was because I had to rate them and work on a bunch of personal schedules for each of them. There may be only a handful of players, but I didn't like the idea of having to go through all of them individually.

"Now, the ones that you'd have to be careful around are Hyuga Junpei and Aida Riko. They're total hotheads—"

Aida was standing behind Koganei as he said this. Koganei froze, and slowly rotated. "Did you say something?" Aida's lips were twitching in several places.

"N-No!" Koganei quickly lied. Before I knew it, he was behind me with his hands on my shoulders. I squeaked at the pressure on my shoulders and the glaring senpai before me.

That was soon taken care of though. We had to begin the practice match, with the senpai-tachi versus the kouhai-tachi.

My left leg shook as I jotted down my thoughts and scores on each player. Though, I was constantly distracted by Kagami's play. He was mercilessly dominating the court, with one dunk after the other. He was no ordinary beast, I knew.

_But he's nothing compared to the Miracles_, I reminded myself. _He's far from their level_.

Continuing writing things down, I checked on Kuroko. I was truly concerned with him. Whenever the ball landed in his hands, it always got stolen easily, without hesitation. _What are you doing Kuro-kun? I know you're better than this_.

Kuroko glanced up where I was. His eyes trailed to my clipboard, and then for a moment he just stood there, while everyone else moved around. "Kuroko! Move your ass this instant!" Aida roared.

He resumed playing after that echoed around the gym. And soon after, the senpai-tachi triple-teamed as defense against Kagami, preventing him from any more dunks. Because of that, the second-years quickly had their lead.

My hand ran through white locks. "Kuroko," I muttered, "what are you doing just standing there idly?"

Kagami was getting irritated at the point gap. Fired up, he tried more ruthlessly, but the attempts were futile because of the strong defense focused on him.

Kuroko looked up at me a second time, and nodded. I jerked inwardly at this. "Huh?"

Before I knew it, I began to see it once more: Kuroko's flash passes. Because I haven't seen it in such a while, my eyes hurt quickly at the speed. Shaking my head, my eyes drew back to the clipboard on my lap.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Aida questioned beside me. I felt her brown eyes scanning around and squinting. She finally went ahead and eyed me, expecting an answer.

I looked up at her and smiled a little. "Kuroko's the rumored Phantom Sixth Man," I simply explained. "His abilities are different than what you expected, no? When I played against him, I found out about his abilities."

"But how does he keep doing that?"

I hesitated. "I-It's hard to explain, but Kuroko's weak presence gives him an advantage to passing, you see."

Kuroko passed to one of the first-years, Furihata Kouki, and they scored a point. Aida's eyes widened. "That's really..."

"I was surprised too when I first knew. I had no words to describe his play either. But I'd say now that it's cunning."

Aida crossed her arms, impressed. "Shrewd."

"Sneaky."

"Sly."

"Nifty."

"I'll say," agreed Aida. "I can't underestimate this guy anymore. He's wimpy, but he might be useful. Hey, write in more detail about Kagami and Kuroko."

I nodded, writing things I knew about them down. The task given was pretty easy for me, since I was already familiar with their habits and play style. The way Kagami played wasn't very different from before.

I heard him dunk again. "He never changed," I said with a smile, writing several more things about that particular first-year.

"Can you write some observations on the second-years a little?" asked Aida.

"Ah, that's fine." I almost stuttered. Thank goodness I didn't. So I just wrote and wrote, until my hand was sore.

When I sensed the game was almost over, I dropped my pencil down and laid the clipboard beside me. Then, I began to watch, and I noticed how Kuroko seemed to use all of the players during the passing. But as I concentrated more on his moves and roughly calculated whom he was passing to the most, it was Kagami.

Was Kuroko trying to impress him? Oh, that couldn't be right; Kuroko wasn't the kind of person who'd do that.

It was the match point. The first-year team was only a point behind the opposing team. If they could get at least a two-pointer, they'd win...

My leg shook in anticipation again. Aida noticed this and deadpanned, saying, "You're too excited. This is nothing, Yukishiro."

"I know. But this might be a very important match," I replied sensibly. "This shows if Kuroko and Kagami are good players to your team or not, right?"

Aida blinked once. She looked away. "I knew that!"

We both looked up simultaneously, and saw the final pass and shot. Kuroko lightning passed to Kagami, who dunked and scored two points. The match was over.

The freshman team won.

Both Aida and I stared for a minute, just forcing ourselves to think. Then, I stood up and walked to Kuroko, holding out a towel for him to take. "Great job impressing them!" I said.

"Thank you."

Tentatively, I moved to Kagami too. He took the towel in my hands and wiped his sweaty face. "You're really sweaty for a small game," I commented.

He glared at me, but I just held a teasing smile. "You play against them. They all teamed up on me."

"But you could've taken them all on Tai-kun," I pressed on. "I thought you said back then you, and I quote, 'have the power of ten men.' Don't you remember that?"

I knew Kagami was still mad at me, seeing me again. We both never saw this coming. We probably thought the same thing: we were once the best of friends, it didn't last, and we moved on with our lives. Though, I suppose what made Kagami mad the most was the realization that he missed me.

Well, I missed him too. Nothing was the same without the trio, Kagami, Himuro, and I together.

"I was ten," he growled.

Shrugging, I patted his forearm. "You're really big. You've grown."

"Well, you don't stutter anymore," he retorted. "And you barely grew. And you look like glass."

I furrowed my brows. "'Glass'? What's that supposed to mean?"

He looked at me with a 'seriously?' face. "Tsu, you look so fragile, like a newborn baby or something. You look like you can't hurt a fly. And you don't look like you've ever _touched_ a basketball before." He turned around to pack. "Just saying."

I huffed. "I do not."

Kuroko had to agree with Kagami, "You do."

I frowned. "I wasn't talking to you."

Later on, I headed home. But before that, I had to get Kagami's contact information. His cell phone was different, but he did live near.

While I did my homework, I got a call. "Moshi, moshi?"

"Your friend is creepy!" That was the first thing I heard from the other line.

"Tai-kun, I have no idea what you're talking about." I deadpanned, clicking my pen.

"I meant that Phantom Miracle. I'm at Maji Burger, and I order my food, then I sit down."

"What's so creepy about that?" I asked, thinking about that small little restaurant that sells burgers and milkshakes. Oh, and those fries are pretty good too... oh wait, Kagami is still talking to me... oops.

"—I mumble to myself, and _bam_! He's right in front of me, and I actually believe him when he says that he's been here the entire time!" he exclaimed. Okay, so I don't think I've missed that much. Man, I must be hungry. I'll get some fries later—wait, what did he say?

"Ah, 'here'? You mean he's in front of you as you speak?" I spoke incredulously. "Tai-kun, you're being rude."

Kagami scoffed. "It's not like he cares."

"He does too. Be considerate for once, Tai-kun," I began to shout.

"How would you know that? You just met him yesterday."

"No I haven't!" I opposed. "Kuro-kun has been a friend of mine since I came to Japan. Of course you wouldn't know, but don't say such carelessly rude things in front of people Taiga!"

Back then, whenever I said his first name angrily, he'd run silent. At least that didn't change about him.

I sighed, "Tai-kun, how would you feel if I said to Kuroko insolent things about you while you're around?"

"I wouldn't care."

"Really now?" I raised a brow. "That's unbelievable."

"Stop talking like that."

Now that caught me off guard. "W-What?"

"It doesn't sound right," Kagami continued while chowing down a burger. At least, his mouth was shamelessly full while he was speaking. "I mean you try to sound like you're sure of yourself, but I know you Tsu. You always think before you speak, so stop forcing yourself to sound smart."

"I'm no-not trying to!" I stammered.

Kagami chewed and swallowed two more burgers. "I know the Tsu that stutters. She's fiery, but she's cooler than that."

"W-Well, I just don't want Aida-senpai or Hyuga-senpai to be mad at me, that's all," I said honestly, stroking my hair and wrapping a finger around a lock. "They're pretty scary. They told me to be more affirmative and to stop st... stuttering."

I could hear him on another burger.

"How many did you get?" I questioned.

"I think fifteen or so," was his reply. "I'm dieting."

Ah. Wait... Kagami only bought that much? He really must be dieting to only get fifteen.

"Your stuttering is really annoying," he suddenly said. "Though, I got used to it. It's no big deal anymore for me. But I can imagine those two getting pissed at you."

I pouted. "No need to remind." Then, I had a thought and asked, "Can you hand the phone to Kuro-kun?"

The phone was silent for a little bit. Then Kagami answered, "Here's not here anymore."

"Just tell him to talk, and you'll see him Tai-kun," I suggested.

A few voices and noise was heard over the line, and then I heard the phone drop. When it was picked up, Kagami barked, "It's official! This guy's either a ghost or he's magical!"

My eyes narrowed. "Tai-kun, you know I don't believe in either of those things. It's not rational."

He moaned, "Here comes practical Tsu."

"People are way too superstitious these days! Ghosts are ridiculously unreasonable. And don't even get me started on the concept of magic—"

"No one cares, Tsu."

I huffed and moved on. "Tai-kun, is Kuro-kun still there?"

"Speaking of him, how did you know him anyway? How come he knows basketball?"

I paused to think for a few seconds. The other line was noisy, but Kagami was silent. So I responded, "I wanted to see if the Generation of Miracles were better than you, or my basketball friends in America. And, in all honesty, they were. Kuroko was the only one that I really liked though."

"You really liked him?"

I smiled. "He was a nice person," I said, as if that answered everything. "His play style, I admit, was strange. But I liked it; there was something to it that I didn't even see coming until it happened."

Kagami was quiet for a moment. "Are you doing your work?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

He grumbled, "Just do it, I'm done eating. See you tomorrow."

I blinked at the flat line. "T-Tai-kun?" I then hung up.

I began to wonder what Kagami was doing. What was Kuroko doing? How did he feel about what Kagami said?

A sigh escaped my lips. I wondered something though, _Kuro-kun... is Tai-kun the one?_

Was Tai-kun the one who'd be... the light?

_"Ehh? My pen_—"

* * *

><p><strong>Mythia: Haha. Well.<strong>

**Kagami: What?**

**Mythia: I don't know. It's 3 AM over here. I'm just tired, so I'll just go to bed already.**

**Kise: It says on your New Year's Resolution that you'd be sleeping earlier from now on! What happened to that?**

**Mythia: Idk. Maybe it went AWOL? *yawns***

**Kise: You should sleep. I'll entertain the readers!**

**Kagami: When did you get here?**

**Mythia: Ah, ok... here, Kise, you can have my author powers for a minute...**

**Kagami: Wait, what? You give your author powers to Kise of all people!?**

**Kise: Hehe, thanks~!**

**Kagami: You're going to regret doing that, Mia!**

**Mythia: Don't care... *snoozes***

**Kise: Alright, first things first! Take away the one who's annoying me right now!**

**Kagami: What the f****— *disappears***

**Kise: Hahaha, what next~?**


End file.
